Many marketers now believe that an investment in customer engagement is a smart move. As the relationship between brands and consumers continually evolves, and seems to exist in a constant state of flux, companies need to prioritize both customer experience and customer engagement as a key marketing strategy.
Adapting to the changing and dynamic demands or our capricious marketing landscape means that most brands can no longer rely only on quality products and services alone to ensure a high level of success. Simply put, it takes a lot more effort to earn customer loyalty than it once did.
This is something that Qantas, a world-class Australian airline, clearly recognizes, which why its stands as a prime example of a brand that is currently investing heavily in customer engagement. In fact, after seeing record levels of customer engagement, the airline is even aiming to make further investments to keep this trajectory going strong.
Recently, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce stated that both customer engagement and customer satisfaction reached record levels in FY2015. Much of this success was attributed to the performance of Qantas Loyalty, which has been recognized as one of the country’s leading loyalty programs. Qantas Loyalty alone reported a record underlying EBIT of $315 million, up from $286 million in FY2014, and clearly dominated over competing loyalty programs.
"Qantas Frequent Flyer added 33 new partners and grew its membership to 10.8 million," Joyce said. "At the same time, Qantas Loyalty continued to diversify, with adjacent businesses contributing around 30 per cent of overall earnings growth."
The success of Qantas Loyalty is an impressive feat, and it is motivating Qantas to continue placing the customer at the core of its engagement strategy.
This is being most clearly demonstrated through an initiative called the Qantas Transformation Program, which is seeing the airline invest $2 billion in aircrafts, lounges, training, and technology.
"For instance, the refurbishment of Qantas’ A330 fleet is approaching the halfway stage, with 10 already flying across Australia and internationally," Joyce said. "We have new first and business class lounges in Los Angeles and will open our new business lounge in Perth this month. New Brisbane lounges will open from 2016. And we are rolling out new technology, including SMS check-in, a new system to improve handling of flight delays, and a mobile travel app."
All of these new projects, Joyce says, are an effort to make life easier for the airline’s customers.
“The transformation in our industry must be a constant," Joyce said. "The key to sustainability is being able to adapt, and that means we have to maintain the momentum."